Welcome to the New Age
by M0ckingj4y Wallfl0wer
Summary: Life for eighteen year old Maisie Archer was simple, just how she liked it. That is, until she discovers she's a Conduit. And now she and her father are on the run. The pair decide to travel to a city far away from their hometown to stay safe - that city is Seattle, Washington. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into...
1. Prologue

I had never thought much about how crazy the world was getting. I just figured "Hey, maybe someday the craziness will die down and we'll all be singing songs around the campfire holding hands," but obviously that's probably not going to happen anytime soon.

These days, you've got three kinds of people.

You've got the freaks, people that were born with a little something special within them. The Bio-terrorists are outlawed, considered monsters. As far as I know, there hasn't been any good news involving them, only news of people getting hurt.

Then we have the soldiers, or more commonly known these days as the D.U.P. Their organization was formed with one goal – to dispose of the Bio-terrorists, one way or another, by any means necessary.

These two groups have been at each other's throats for seven years now, and so far the D.U.P. has had the upper hand in the fight.

And then there's the civilians, caught in the middle of it all. People are living in fear, and with morale at a massive low, everyone just wants an end to the fighting and chaos.

Which begs the question – who are we _really_ meant to be afraid of? The Bio-terrorists? The D.U.P.? Or both?

And me? I have tried my best not to take sides, to stay neutral. Life is stressful enough without having to worry about who's a freak, or how many people have been hurt. I like my life simple.

But no one's life can stay simple for long, and in my case, it'll never be the same again.


	2. Chapter One: Origins

When I think of how I wanted to spend my senior year of high school, I had nothing extravagant planned. After I had graduated, I was going to take some time off – maybe go on a holiday to somewhere like Alaska or Colorado.

But, knowing me, I'd probably never get around to it. I'd just stay home, sit on my ass and go on YouTube or play video games and waste my life that way.

"Maisie."

My gaze flickers from staring aimlessly out the car window to my father's face.

"We're nearly out of Idaho now," he informs me, a yawn following his words soon after.

My dad, Lucas, is a very rugged looking man. He has dark hair that is always messy and swept back, and dark stubble that was turning into a grizzly beard. He is also heavily built. Tired grey eyes glare at the road in concentration. I didn't inherit this eye colour – instead I got my late-mother's light blue. Something Dad was grateful for - he tells me often that it's like a part of Mom living on - or something close to that, I guess.

My mom died during childbirth, so my dad has had to bring me up on his own. He does his best to raise me, teaching me right from wrong at an early age, since he used to be a cop. I've never gotten into much trouble thanks to his guidance.

Well, that was until yesterday.

* * *

**000**

I was walking home from school, like I usually did every day. My emotions at that moment were on edge – it had not been an easy day. First I had worked my ass off on an essay for English, only to get a C – after all that work and staying up late, and it was a damn good essay too. And to top it off, a specific group of assholes had decided it was a brilliant day to annoy the _living shit_ out of me. Pointing and laughing, purposely knocking my things off my desk, making comments so rude that would make Dad want to bring out his shotgun if he heard them. And knowing him, he would do just that – bless his overprotective little soul.

I walked around the corner to take my normal route home, but came to a stop mid-step as I took in the sight in front of me.

"Well great," I muttered irritably, sighing loudly. "How fricking convenient."

A small group of D.U.P. soldiers had set up a checkpoint, creating a long line of impatient, uneasy people that reached from down the end of the street to where I was standing, which was right on the corner. I saw people stepping up to get their hands scanned while the soldiers watched them like hawks.

"Okay Maisie, think." I looked around for a shortcut around the checkpoint – what was the point in waiting around? I was clean. I didn't carry the Conduit gene. Plus I had to be home by five or Dad would have my hide. "Ah! There we go."

An alleyway on the right just halfway down the line of people was my way out. Gripping my bag tighter, I made my way around the people, sticking to the walls of the buildings so I wouldn't bump into anyone. Rounding the corner, I hurried down the alleyway. It wasn't too creepy. Okay maybe a little bit creepy – oh who am I kidding? It was dingy and smelly and it was one of those long, winding alleys so yes, it was _creepy_.

The problem with me going down this particular path though, was that this alley was where some of the kids – namely the assholes I mentioned previously - from my school liked to "pass time" and by pass time I mean their either smoke or drink which normally leads to them thinking they're drug dealing rappers when really it's just a bunch of white dudes acting like pre-pubescent children.

I had hoped there would be no one there… but I had terrible luck.

There were three boys sitting around on some tipped over garbage bins and two more leaning against the wall, accompanied by two girls who I assumed were their girlfriends. Their gazes were locked on me now.

A boy with blonde hair and a sly grin spoke up first. "Hey Archer, wanna join us?" He held up the bottle he had in his hand, offering it.

I shuffled my feet to the side. "I'm fine, thanks anyway, Connor," I answered flatly, giving him a blank stare. "A bit early to be drinking, isn't it?"

Connor merely rolled his eyes, jumping off the bin and strolling leisurely towards me. One glance over his shoulder and his two friends from the wall followed his footsteps.

"Maisie, you're so uptight," he crooned, stepping closer to me. I took a large step backwards. "You need to chill out, _relax_."

"I do fine 'chilling'," – I raised my fingers to make quotation marks – "on my own, actually."

Connor and the others just laughed. One of the two boys behind him took a step towards me, looking me up and down as if he were sizing me up. "Forget it man, she too much of a frigid bitch to lighten up."

"Probably because Daddy Dearest is a cop," one of the girls piped in. "The dumbass probably never lets her have any fun."

I glared at the girl with all I had. "Why don't you watch your damn mouth about my family, bitch?"

Connor raised his hands in defence. "Woah there! Now _that's_ not how a cop's little girl should be talkin' now, is it?"

He and the two other boys took more steps closer to me. One of them reached out and shoved me backwards. My back hit the brick wall forcefully. I let out a pained grunt on impact. "Back the hell off, Connor," I growled, straightening myself back up. A painful tingling feeling in the palms of my hands was starting.

"Oh come on, Maisie!" Connor whined, now uncomfortably close to my face now. I could see the reddened whites of his eyes, and smell his really terrible breath. "We we're just having some fun!"

One of the boys on the bin – Kane, I think his name was – raised his hand. "How about a vote. All those in favour of messing with her dumb ass some more, raise your hand?"

Connor, along with the rest of his friends, raised their hands high. He looked back at me with a smirk that made me want to slap him. I considered calling Dad – but he was fixing up his truck at the moment, so he wouldn't even make it in time anyway.

"Well, the jury has spoken," the girl from earlier chimed in, sneering at me. "Show her whose boss, Connor."

He merely rolled his eyes before turning back to me, taking a calculated step closer. The tingling feeling was getting worse. It was like the pain was crawling up my arms and digging into my skin. Connor motioned the boys forward. One pushed me down so I was bending over while the other had taken a fistful of my long wavy black hair and pulled it backwards, angling my head upwards.

"You know no one likes you, right?" Connor murmured, before balling his fist and hitting me square in the face.

I let out a small whine, trying not to make any noise – I didn't want to give the bastard the satisfaction of hearing my pain.

"I have tried." Another hit. Just above my right eye. I felt a sharp pain start to form where he had hit me, then warm liquid flowing down from my eyebrow just barely missing my eye. "I have tried to see you as a normal person. But I just can't. You know why?"

He grabbed my chin, forcing me to look up at him. He tilted his head to the side slightly. My pulse started to quicken, the burning pain building and rising even more as I became even more scared.

"You, Maisie Archer, are just too much of a freak to fit in with the rest of us. You don't belong."

I took the opportunity to spit the pooling blood in my mouth right in his face. He cried out in surprise, rubbing at his eyes. While he was distracted, I took the chance to reach my arm around and hit the dude holding my hair right in the crotch. The pressure from my hair was gone, replaced by the stinging at the roots from the pulling. I dropped my bag to the ground so I could move around easier.

The dude I hit in the crotch was on the ground, holding his area and rolling around like a baby. The other guy came at me, taking on a boxer's stance, hands raised to his face like he was in the ring. He threw a punch directed at my face, but being under the influence made him miscalculate his aim so his fist collided with my shoulder instead. Seeing how close he was to my body I decided to head butt him.

It was effective, but a _baaaad_ idea.

I held my forehead while I cried out in agony. The boy had fallen to the ground, presumably knocked out by the blow.

I felt someone's hands wrap around my upper arms, yanking me to my feet. Then, another impact – I think they threw me into the wall again. I tried opening my eyes, but everything was blurry. I faintly heard someone yelling at me.

"Leave me alone," I whispered hoarsely, trying to focus. The pain was getting unbearable, I wanted it to stop, preferably now!

The voices were getting louder – I assumed it was Connor and his buddy I hit in the crotch. I saw two blurry shapes getting closer and closer. I could hear laughing.

"I said _leave me alone!_" I raised my right hand, shielding my face from the oncoming blow. It never came.

A series of things happened next, blurred together as if it happened all at once in slow motion. The pain on my palms suddenly disappeared. The feeling of relief that it was gone at last. A strange crackling noise like a window or an icy lake breaking up. Next, the sickening squelching noise and a choked up scream. And finally the screams of horror.

I opened my eyes – I really wish I didn't, looking back on it now.

There was Connor and his friend, still standing up, with glassy eyes staring vacantly into the distance. Blood pooled from Connor's mouth like a small gushing fountain. I tore my gaze from their faces, and looked down. Thick shards of ice, almost like spears, surrounded me, the largest ones embedded into the abdomen and neck of Connor and his friend.

"Holy shit, she's one of _them_," I faintly heard Kane whisper in horror.

"No, no, no! I -" I couldn't finish my sentence because I stared down at my hands. There were small flecks of ice on them, literally creeping out from my skin. _I did this._

Then one of the girls screamed. "We need to get help! The D.U.P. is just around the corner-"

I forced my legs to move. I snatched my bag up from the ground, shoved my way past the horrified looking kids and ran as fast as I could away from the scene. I _had_ to get home.

It was official then. I was now one of the freaks – a Bio-terrorist.

* * *

**Well, that was a lot of words.**

**So, I hope you guys liked the first chapter of the story - it seriously took me ages to getting round and uploading the damn thing. Life lesson - procrastination gets you nowhere kids!**

**So the "000" thing is for when there's going to be flashbacks - and there will be a few. But the flashbacks are necessary as it will explain parts of her character, past etc.**

**It was a wee bit hard writing the fighting scene - I haven't even attempted writing anything like that ever, so it was hella awkward. Anyway, thank you for reading and following this little story. So yeah!**


	3. Chapter Two: Brooding and Puns

And that's how it all started. Now I'm being hunted by the DUP, along with my father.

Hell, I'm still surprised by his reaction to all this.

**000**

* * *

When I got back to our house, I had ran straight to the garage – he had only just finished fixing his truck. He slammed down the hood, only glancing up slightly to give me a small smile.

"Hey Darlin' how was school?" Dad asked, wiping the grease off his hands.

"Um, it-it was fine," I replied shakily, trying to hide the fact that my voice was breaking. I failed completely at that. I could still feel the ice flecks emerging from my palms.

"Hey, I was thinkin', maybe now that I've got the truck fixed up, we could go on that hiking trip we talked about last week," he said chirpily, his back facing me as he rummaged around in a toolbox for God-knows-what.

I frowned, pulling one of my hands out of my pockets for a couple seconds – the ice was still there _damn it why won't it go away? _"Oh, really?" I ask, shoving my hand back into my pocket.

"Yeah!" he turned and faced me, a stupid dumb ass grin on his aging bearded face. "Maybe, we could also do some hunting again – you said yourself you've been dying to get back out there…"

I couldn't focus on what he said next. I was too busy trying not to panic over the fact that the ice was slowly seeping up my arms, almost to my elbows.

"May, honey what's wrong?" Dad asked me, his smile had turned into a concerned frown.

He took a step towards me, reaching out. I flinched away. "Something has… happened," I mumbled, barely audible.

"What are you talking about? What has happened?" he asked urgently. He abruptly grabbed my shoulders, his eyes scanning my face. "Did someone hurt you?"

"There were these kids from my school, assholes," I began, not making eye contact. "They started pushing me around in an alley while I was on my way home."

Dad sighed loudly, clearly irritated. "May I've _told_ you many times to _call me_ when shit happens, you know – "

"Yes, _I_ _know_ alright, but that's not the point!" I argued. "The problem is that two of the bastards are dead and it's my fault!"

This seemed to shake him. He released my shoulders and stared at me blankly. "Dead? What even – what the _hell_ do you mean it's your fault, May?"

To answer his question, I merely took my hands out of my pockets and raised them for him to see.

I will never forget the look of dawning horror slowly spreading across his face as he stared at the flecks of wispy ice that seemed to grow out of my hands.

"I don't know how it happened," I told him in a flat monotone voice. "One moment I was getting my ass kicked, screaming for them to stop, and then – well, I just –" I sighed, the panic rapidly returning. "I just snapped, I guess. I _honestly_ don't know how this happened, but it did."

Dad, meanwhile, was silent as I spoke. He was mouthing incoherent words that I couldn't understand, trying to get a hold of himself.

"You're a Conduit," he finally mumbled in a quiet voice.

I nodded numbly. Oh God, he was surely going to hate me now. "So… when are you gonna call the D.U.P.?"

Dad spluttered out a strange, angry sound. "I ain't calling anyone," he said in a snarl, his gruff voice frightening me.

"So what's going to happen now?"

He turned away from me suddenly, running both hands through his hair shakily.

"Dad?"

Nothing.

"Dad?"

Still nothing.

"Say something, God damn it," I growled at him. Just give me an answer already! I remember thinking.

Finally, he lowered his hands from his hair, planting them firmly at his sides. Slowly – at long last – he turned around, a blank, determined expression on his face.

"Go to your room, Maisie."

I blinked, not knowing where this was going. "Uh, why?" I asked dumbly.

Dad let out a loud, frustrated sigh. "Go to your room and pack your shit. We're going."

**000**

* * *

And that was that. And here we are, fleeing from our home.

"How much further till we get there?" I ask.

"Probably another four, maybe three hours," Dad replies.

I nod, pursing my lips together. I can't help but think to myself over and over again, "You don't have to do this, you don't have to throw your life away to help me." I stay silent, continuing my brooding.

Dad sighs. "Okay kiddo, what's up?"

"Nothing," I reply.

"You sure about that?"

"Yes," I groan in frustration. Why must he nag about this now? "I am _fine_, okay?"

"Cut the bullshit, May, you've been all quiet since the moment we got out of Idaho! Now tell me what's buggin' you or so help me -"

"Okay, fine!" I argue, my voice raising a few octaves like a whiny kid. "I'll tell you, just calm the farm down. Sheesh dude…"

"_Thank you_."

I lean back into my seat, turning my gaze out the window again. "Okay, well… shit how do I say this?"

"Take your time," Dad reassures me.

I take a deep breath. "It's just… I don't get why you're helping me – ah! Before you start," I say, as he was about to interrupt, "what I mean is, well… most people would most likely freak out or hell call the D.U.P. if they found out that someone they knew was a Bio – um, Conduit." I have to remember to correct myself from now on. _Conduit_, not Bio-terrorist. Even though I might as well be a terrorist, considering the fact I slaughtered someone with my power.  
I clear my throat and resume speaking. "You could have done that, call the D.U.P. You could still live your normal daily life before all this crazy shit. Why didn't you?" My voice grows quiet toward the end.

Dad narrows his eyes, thinking deeply. For a moment I thought he wouldn't reply, but then he says, "Because you're all I have left." He pauses, then continues to speak. "After your mom died, I promised I would take care of you, and I ain't about to give up my only child to the D.U.P. so easily."

"Oh," is all I can manage to say.

The car is silent for a good ten minutes. Shit, I really am lucky to have my Dad on my side through this crap. If it weren't like this, maybe he would have gone all ex-cop on my ass and hand me in. He was still pretty respected by his old workmates and boss, so it could have been easy.

The silence is getting awkward now. Way to go Maisie, I think. You sure know how to make shit awkward as hell.

But, I have an idea to remedy that.

"Hey, Dad?"

"Yeah?" he replies, his grey eyes darting from the road to me, then back on the road again.

I clear my throat dramatically. "Did you hear about the guy who couldn't juggle?"

He sighs loudly, knowing where this was going. "No, what about him?" he asks, playing along.

"It's not that he didn't know how to juggle, he just didn't have the balls to do it," I tell him, a smirk slowly creeping onto my face.

I have a thing for looking up shitty puns and jokes, committing them to memory and then relaying them all to Dad. I finished playing _The Last of Us _a few days ago - which was amazing - and long story short, I fell in love with Ellie's puns. Add my own crude and sometimes morbid sense of humour and innuendos into the mix and boom - you have a recipe for disaster.

He snorts, trying to suppress his small laugh. "That's awful, Maisie."

"_You're_ awful," I retort, giggling.

Dad's smiling now. "Here's one for you – people who say they suffer from constipation are full of shit."

I laugh, my smirk replaced by a grin. "Dude that's horrible. I love it."

He merely chuckles, turning his attention back to the road once more.

* * *

**Well this took a while to get around to. Sorry about the wait - I have been busy as hell with a whole load of exams/assessments for school, as well as some other issues. So this update was on hold for a while. But now that at least half of my stuff's been sorted, I finally got around to uploading this.**

**This chapter was going to be longer, but the next half that was originally going to be in it will be in chapter three instead. But now I've kinda established what kind of relationship Maisie and her dad have.**

**Next chapter coming will finally have some action in it. May will finally get to kick the D.U.P.'s ass!**

**Thanks to everyone that reads/has read this small little story! Any questions about anything send 'em my way!**


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